We're proud to announce the successful closing of a EUR 15 million seed investment round in eyeo, an imec spin-off developing a breakthrough image sensor.
Image sensors are at the heart of just about every camera, ranging from smartphones and security cameras to industrial applications. Yet most cameras still operate with color filters that have remained unchanged for over 50 years. They filter light through red, green, and blue filters. This technology blocks - and thus wastes - 70% of the incoming light, which has a negative impact on the image quality and light sensitivity. To compensate, manufacturers have made larger sensors, resulting in larger, more expensive and heavier cameras.
At the heart of eyeo’s innovation is a radically new way of capturing light. Eyeo replaces traditional filters with a layer of glass-like nanostructures that capturse all the incoming light, just as the human eye would. The light is then split by color, and each individual color is guided directly to the right pixel.
By manipulating light instead of blocking it, eyeo achieves three times better light sensitivity, true-to-life color accuracy, and a doubling of resolution, without having to increase the sensor size. As a result, the images are clearer, more detailed, and more beautiful than ever, even in challenging lighting conditions.
We believe eyeo has the potential to redefine the future of imaging. For the first time ever, image sensors can capture all incoming light, overcoming the limitations of traditional color filter technology. This enables a new generation of high-resolution sensors for smartphones, AR/VR, and robotics and opens the door to entirely new applications, from ultra-compact cameras for medical diagnostics to razor-sharp security camera images.
You can read the full press release on Business Wire.